Drawing us in with a haunting bass synth and atmospheric vocalizations of the title of the track, soleï opens 2u&i with intrigue before sharing her lived experience and emotions with the lyrics, “One word replies, spend the night in your arms, sent me one message and it′d make my whole week come alive…”
We immediately connect with the raw authenticity that transmutes and soleï‘s captivating timbre as she shares situational prose about human connection with a high emotional and spiritual quotient. The emergence of delicate guitar arpeggios, astral bell tones and textured drums accompanies soleï‘s lyricism as she shares the tale of a relationship where one person gives everything to keep it alive.
soleï shares how she has changed herself and sacrificed her own needs for the love of her muse. Despite that effort, the relationship becomes distant and one-sided. It has left soleï feeling emotionally hollow and abandoned. The New York/Sydney metaphor captures growing distance, and the ending suggests final acceptance that soleï has to let go.
The production switch-ups are sublime, tapping into an almost visceral and subversive, experimental energy with a folk-adjacent delivery as soleï cathartically sings, “And I′ll stay for a while and hold the weight of us on me when I start to drown I’ll let go…” leading through to the electric guitar finale.
Speaking philosophically on the message of the song, soleï confesses, “2u&i tells a story of what could’ve been, feeling alone while sitting next to someone. I wrote it about me and the great expectations I tend to build for people in my head. No one is under any obligation to be who I want them to be, but as a human, you cannot help but hope and have fantasies in your head.”
There is no doubt that the song holds a cinematic allure and would be perfect for an episode of Crew Girl, Euphoria, or My Life with the Walter Boys, it would also work well in a film like Voicemails from Isabelle. We learn that the track was produced with Bartolomiej Czapski and soleï also cites “The Marias, Stephen Dawes, Ravyn Lenae, Slayyyter and acts like New Constellations” as sonic influences, which we can feel manifest, although there is no doubt that soleï is locking in a sonic identity unto her own design.
We have added 2u&I to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS and TRIPPY playlists, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of soleï, including even if it kills me, and william.